Lobster Used to Be 'The Cockroach of the Sea' and Only Fed to Servants and Cats

Food News2/13/2014

Erica Schecter

When someone says "lobster" some words that might come to mind are delicacy, fancy, luxurious and most dismally, market price. However, it wasn't always this way. Formerly regarded as "the cockroach of the sea" and fed to servants, migrants and even people's cats, lobster was the laughing stock of seafood. Regarded as a dish fit only for the poor, even having lobster shells in your house was looked upon as a sign of poverty. Yet today lobster is seen as the poshest of the posh, the cousin of caviar. So, how the hell did this happen?

It starts with industrialization. When the railways began to expand across America, transportation managers realized that if no one apart from people who lived on the coast knew what lobster was, trains could serve it to inland passengers as if it were a rare, exotic item. This plan seemed to work as people started demanding lobsters beyond the railways and it didn't hurt that around this same time in the late 1800s, chefs discovered lobsters tasted much better when cooked live. Restaurants, too, got the memo. Then during World War II, lobsters weren't rationed like other foods, and so people of all classes began to eat it and "discover" its deliciousness. By the 1950s, lobster established itself as a bona fide luxury food item.

So what have we learned here? Lobster itself never changed over time, but rather the perceptions and attitudes of people towards lobster that drove the change in consumer behavior. Nowadays, lobster holds a place as one of the most expensive items at a restaurant or reserved for special occasions only. That being said, we bet it's only a few more years 'til spam becomes the filet mignon of red meat.